‘C3’ Anime: Complete Series Review

The series C3 is an anime that originally aired in the fall of 2011, based of a series of light novels by Minase Hazuki. The anime is told from the perspective of Haruaki Yachi, a young man whose life is altered from the first moments of the series. One day, Haruaki receives a package at his front door that is something nobody could predict. The “package” in reality is a cursed torture cube that releases a humanoid like creature in the shape of a girl named Fear Kubrick. The Fear Kubrick explains to Haruaki that – oh yeah, she’s also cursed. We learn that she is like a receptor for any negative emotion imaginable, which has transpired and caused her to do some immoral things that she has supposedly come to regret in her existence. The unusual girl/humanoid lets it be known one last important detail before diving in… she has a tendency to drive her former companions insane.

The plot then begins by proving that Haruaki is a willing participant and will try his best to help her break her curse and live in the world as an average person (if there’s even such a concept.)The anime series C3 doesn’t waste any time to introduce you to the overall plot of the series which also includes a heavy dose of the anime cliché we’ve all come to love (insert some semblance of sarcasm) fanservice. I had previously assumed that this would be a series that details the different fanservice-y bits, but had hope when I discovered there was a curse that would take shape in the anime. It began to show when the objectification had occurred before the first 20 minutes had ended, so you can’t state that you don’t know what to expect after discovering the first episode.

One of the things I hoped to gain from C3 was a sense of intense themes or danger, but the atmosphere of the anime was drastically lighthearted. At first they go as far as describing Kubrick’s curse as a looming danger, however they go the opposite direction giving her a carefree persona. I actually found the Fear Kubrick to be the best comedic element involved in C3 which I can say proved my first instincts were wrong about the female protagonist. As she tries to live a daily life of a human, she does things that she sees as average – but are usually destructive or improbable for anyone else. Her independence created some of the best moments of the anime, rounding her out as an entirely enjoyable character for the strange series C3.

Even though the curse wasn’t as crucial to the general outline of C3, they knew just when it was a perfect moment to draw you back in and invest yourself in whatever the results may be. She showed a major vulnerability at her desire to shake off the curse over her and you can’t help but hope she achieves what she desires with the help of her new friend Haruaki. Haruaki wasn’t too bad of a character himself, showing that he cared for Fear, yet also showing compassion for his recurring friend Muramasa Konoha. I liked that he did his best to show that he cared for the people in his life and wasn’t written off as arrogant or uninterested which can be a trope in series of the same genre. The relationships between the primary characters were sometimes used for filler aspects until reminding us of a continuing narrative, but aside from the frustrations of fanservice I found the main two (and Konoha) to be decent enough to carry the story.

The animation used deeper colors with a gothic tone to what most male centric anime series would employ. It creates a darker mood initially, but you realize soon after that it really isn’t indicative of the actual anime’s intentions. Character designs weren’t the weakest nor were they the strongest, but the most detailed moments seemed to come from those cliche scenes that I wasn’t always too keen on. The audio was strictly a Japanese dub, with an audibly pleasant voice cast. It didn’t feel like a series that required an English dub, so I can understand why they had chose to leave the series as is. C3 is stronger than your average fanservice series, but definitely classifies as something that a particular niche audience will enjoy.

Overall Score: 6/10

Aedan’s Final Thoughts:

– The series C3 had a few moments where you could feel the pressure that Fear was facing – a nice touch.

– It’s hard for me to find fanservice as a necessary plot device, so that instantly affects my score on the anime.

– The animation (mainly colors) were strong choices that could have been used better with a darker themed series.

– Moments of action caught me by surprise, so you have to note that they brought a few different aspects to C3.